Method and system for providing social media content synchronized to media presentation

ABSTRACT

A computer system provides a method for distribution of a video stream together with associated media content.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/679,491, entitled “Method and System forProviding Social Media Content Synchronized to Media Presentation,”filed on Nov. 16, 2012, invented by Aslam Khader and Larry AlanWesterman, said application, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/679,491, is hereby incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to providing social media content toconsumers of audio-visual media content, and more specifically tomethods and systems that filter and synchronize social media contentduring presentation of audio-visual media content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Since the earliest days of mass media, enthusiasts have developed meansand methods for sharing their enthusiasm with like-minded individuals.Fan clubs, social gatherings, conventions, and public relations eventshave all served to enhance the enjoyment of mass media for thoseindividuals with high interest.

The advent of computer-mediated communication has provided newopportunities for fan involvement. In the earliest days of computernetworking, user-generated sites such as Usenet allowed devotees toshare comments, insights and criticisms of popular media content. Thistrend has continued—contemporary media producers often develop on-linefan sites that provide additional content, background material, andrelated information, as well as present a forum for enthusiasts to sharecomments and questions.

Among fans of serial content such as television dramas, one strongpreference is the avoidance of any material which might prematurelyreveal plot details of unseen content. Due to the availability ofrecording means, some fans may view serialized content at a delay fromthe original presentation of the content. Most fans of continuing dramasprefer to experience the material naïve of the upcoming content, therebymaximizing the anticipatory and revelatory aspects of the experience.Accordingly, such fans seek to avoid exposure to any ancillary contentcreated by an experienced viewer that might reveal plot details prior toviewing. Systems that assist such fans have been described in the patentliterature. For example, U.S. Patent Application 2007/0157249 describesa system and method for monitoring a user's viewing progress of media ina series, then filtering peripheral media content to be consistent withthe user's viewing progress in the series. Similarly, U.S. PatentApplication 2012/0079517 describes a system and method for modifying aservice transaction according to the viewership status of a userrelative to a series of episodes. The modification may includewithholding content, such as posts by other viewers, related to episodesof the series which the user has not yet viewed.

User-generated content is one form of metadata about media content.Other forms of metadata may be provided by the original contentproducer. Such revelatory content may bear or be assigned a temporalrelationship to the media content. For example, a viewer comment about ascene in an episode is most relevant when presented in synchrony withthe scene. Various systems have been described that deal with thesynchronization of metadata with media content. For example, U.S. PatentApplication 2009/0208180 describes a method for controlling therevelation of metadata items based on the viewing timeline of theprimary media content. U.S. Patent Application 2012/0082427 describes amethod of receiving secondary media content such as user-generatedcontent, assigning a time stamp to the secondary media content relativeto the primary media content, then allowing for delayed playback of theprimary and secondary media content streams based upon the time stamp.

With the advent of interactive social media sites such as Facebook andTwitter, the consumption of audio-visual media content such as broadcasttelevision has acquired a novel social dimension. Viewers of atelevision presentation may generate comments about the content in realtime. These comments are then presented to other viewers of the samecontent, thereby enhancing their experience of the program content. Suchcomments may provide opinions about the content, secondary informationabout the actors or themes of the content, jokes or anecdotes related tothe content, or simply personal observations about any subject. Viewercomments may be shared among a group of friends, or to a largeranonymous group of viewers. The sharing of such comments creates amediated social interaction among scattered viewers reminiscent of, butmore flexible than, the old-fashioned family gathering around thetelevision set. U.S. Pat. No. 8,051,230 describes such a system allowingthe sharing of spoken comments among users via a communications network.In accordance with the method of U.S. Patent Application 2012/0082427,the real-time comments may be assigned time stamps and be recorded withthe associated time stamps, so that a viewer who accesses the primarymedia content at a later time may be presented with the recordedcomments (the secondary media content) in synchrony with the primarymedia content upon playback.

An avid fan of a television series may wish to view and participate inthe real-time social media commentary when viewing an episode, but alsoavoid unwitting exposure to spoilers. For an American viewer, thisdesire is complicated by a basic feature of the broadcast infrastructurein the United States. Standard network content is broadcast three timesin the US broadcast system, first for the Eastern time zone, one hourlater for the Central and Mountain time zones, and two hours after thatfor the Western time zone. Accordingly, fans in the Central and Mountaintime zones may wish to view user-generated content originating from theEastern time zone (the content having been time stamped and recorded forreplay in synchrony with the video content) as well as de novouser-generated content originating from the Central and Mountain timezones. Fans in the Western time zone would similarly experience acombination of recorded and de novo user-generated content. A problemthat arises in this circumstance is that a viewer on the East coast maycontinue to make comments about an episode after the broadcast hasfinished on the East coast; such comments may be picked up by a systemdisplaying social media content during the broadcast to theCentral/Mountain or Western time zones and be admixed with commentsoriginating from naïve viewers in those time zones. Thus, comments fromexperienced viewers containing spoiler information may beinappropriately presented to naïve viewers, contrary to their desire toremain unaware of forthcoming content.

A proposed solution to this dilemma is presented in U.S. PatentApplication 2011/0010774 (hereinafter '774), which describes a methodfor extracting meaning information from a message and determiningwhether to present the messages based on the meaning of the message.However, the method of '774 is inadequate to solving the above-statedproblem owing to the known difficulty of accurately interpreting thelinguistic content of a message and the computational burden required toperform such analysis.

What is desired is a method and system that appropriately filters andcombines social media content for delayed presentation to a naïveviewer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method for distribution of avideo stream together with associated media content.

One aspect of the present invention teaches a system and method fordistribution of a video stream together with associated media content,the method comprising: during a current distribution of the videostream: retrieving a stored first media content associated with thevideo stream along with a stored associated first media offset timestamp; distributing the retrieved first media content with the videostream at a media offset time in the video stream corresponding to atime indicated by the retrieved first media offset time stamp; receivinga second media content associated with the video stream from a viewer;determining that the viewer has not previously viewed the video stream;associating the media offset time with the second media content as asecond media offset time stamp; storing the second media content and theassociated second media offset time stamp; and distributing the secondmedia content with the video stream.

In another aspect of the present invention, the stored first mediacontent is associated with a previous distribution of the video stream,wherein the previous distribution of the video stream is within a firstgeographical area; the current distribution is within a secondgeographical area different from the first geographical area; and thestep of determining that the viewer has not previously viewed the videostream is responsive to a determination that the viewer is locationwithin the second geographical area.

In yet a further aspect of the present invention, the currentdistribution of the video stream is by a video-on-demand service; andthe step of determining that the viewer has not previously viewed thevideo stream is responsive to a determination that the viewer has notpreviously accessed the video stream through the video-on-demandservice.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the step ofdetermining that the viewer has not previously viewed the video streamis responsive to a determination that the viewer has not generated anyof the stored media content with an associated media offset time stampgreater than the second media offset time stamp.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the currentdistribution of the video stream and the distribution of the retrievedfirst media content are accomplished by different means.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the currentdistribution of the video stream and the distribution of the retrievedfirst media content are accomplished by the same means.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the currentdistribution of the video stream and the distribution of the secondmedia content are accomplished by different means.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the currentdistribution of the video stream and the distribution of the secondmedia content are accomplished by the same means.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the stored firstmedia content is received, during a previous distribution of the videostream, from a previous viewer.

In a still further aspect of the invention, a system for presentation ofvideo content comprises: a stream distribution module configured todistribute a video stream; a media content storage and retrieval moduleconfigured to store and retrieve media content associated with the videostream an a media offset time stamp of media content creation relativeto a time of the associated video stream; a content distribution moduleconfigured to retrieve the stored media content from the media contentstorage and retrieval module responsive to a media offset time of thevideo stream and distribute the media content; a content receiver moduleconfigured to receive media content associated with the video contentfrom a viewer and associated a media offset time stamp with the mediacontent based on the relative media time of the video stream at the timethe media content was created; and a content analysis module configuredto determine if received media content was created by a viewer who hadnot previously viewed the video stream, wherein the system is operativeto: distribute the video stream from the stream distribution module;during a presentation of the video stream, receive at the contentreceiver module a first media content associated with the video streamgenerated by a viewer; upon receipt of the first media content,determine using the content analysis module whether the first mediacontent was created by a viewer who had not previously viewed the videostream; and upon determining that the received first media content wascreated by a viewer who had not previously viewed the video stream,store the received first media content with an associated media offsettime stamp using the media content storage and retrieval module anddistribute the received first media content using the contentdistribution module.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the contentdistribution module is configured to receive relative timing informationfrom the stream distribution module.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the content analysismodule is configured to determine if the first media content was createdby a viewer who had not previously viewed the video stream responsive towhether the viewer is located in a geographical location to which thevideo stream had not previously been distributed.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the streamdistribution module is a video-on-demand module; and the contentanalysis module is configured to determine if the first media contentwas created by a viewer who had not previously viewed the video streamresponsive to whether the viewer had not previously viewed the videostream through the stream distribution module.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the distribution ofthe video stream and the distribution of the first media content areaccomplished by different means.

In a still further aspect of the present invention, the distribution ofthe video stream and the distribution of the first media content areaccomplished by the same means.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will become more readily apparent from the following detaileddescription of a preferred embodiment of the invention that proceedswith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention aredescribed in detail below with reference to the following drawings. Inthe drawings, like numbers refer to like items.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting an exemplary scenario in whichsocial media content are created and shared among viewing householdslocated in different time zones.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary temporalsequence of activities involving the inventive system and users of thesystem.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting elements of an exemplary systemconfigured to practice an aspect of the inventive method and system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram further depicting elements of an exemplarysystem configured to practice an aspect of the inventive method andsystem.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart delineating the high-level steps of anexemplary implementation of the inventive method.

FIG. 6 illustrates examplary metadata encoded using Javascript ObjectNotation (JSON) protocol and describing the author of a social mediatweet as implemented within an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

By way of overview, embodiments of the present invention provide amethod and system for playback of media content along with a videostream comprising: presenting a video stream to a first user device;retrieving from storage first media content associated with the videostream along with a time stamp relative to the video stream; presentingthe first media content with the video stream at the time indicated bythe time stamp to a second user device; receiving from a third userdevice second media content associated with the video stream;determining if the second media content is generated by a naïve viewerwho has not previously seen the video stream; and if the second mediacontent is generated by a naïve viewer of the video stream, associatinga time stamp relative to the video stream with the second media content,storing the second media content with the associated time stamp, andpresenting the second media content with the video stream to the seconduser device.

As used herein, the term “video stream” refers to video or video withassociated audio conveyed in a single delivered stream of content. Thevideo and audio content may be compressed or uncompressed. A videostream may be ‘presented’ in analog or digital form, and may bedelivered by any appropriate means including inter alia as a physicalmedia or as an evanescent photonic, electrical, or electromagneticsignal delivered by wired or wireless conveyance. The video stream maybe broadcast, multicast, or unicast to many, a few, or one user device,respectively. Secondary media content may be presented using the same ordifferent means as the video stream with which the secondary mediacontent is associated. Furthermore, the video stream, with secondarymedia content, may be received at the user device, recorded, and playedback for display at a later time, while remaining within the spirit andscope of the current invention.

As used herein, the terms “media content” and “secondary media content”refer to any object or collection of objects and/or data that can bestored, retrieved, and subsequently rendered on a user device. The mediacontent may include inter alia text, sound, graphics, still images, orvideo, alone or in combination. Media content may be delivered by anyappropriate means including inter alia as a physical media or as anevanescent photonic, electrical, or electromagnetic signal delivered bywired or wireless conveyance.

As used herein, the terms “social media” and “social media content”refer to an instance or a collection of instances of data or objectsgenerated in the context of social interaction by formal, semi-formal orinformal means, and distributed to or accessible by the participants ofthe social interaction. The participants in a social interaction may beknown or unknown to one another. An item of social media content mayfurther be accessible to others beyond the immediate participants in theinteraction. A social interaction may but need not be mediated by a“social media device” which may be a desktop, laptop, or netbookcomputer; a tablet computer; a mobile phone, smart phone, Apple Touch™,Apple iPad™, Android Droid™, or similar mobile device; a smarttelevision; or any other electronic device configured for the creationof social media content. Social media content may incorporate textual,numerical, visual, auditory or other data. A social interaction mayinvolve inter alia an email exchange; a twitter exchange; a twikiposting and comments or responses to the twiki posting; a blog postingand comments or responses to the blog posting; a website posting andcomments or responses to the website posting; submissions to anewsgroup; a review posting on a commerce website and comments orresponses to the review posting; a video posted to YouTube or otherpublic website and comments or responses to the video posting; andsimilar on-line activities. A social interaction may include inter aliaan exchange of written correspondence, photographs, or printed material.A social interaction may include inter alia the display in a publicforum of written, printed, or photographic material or the like, andresponses to such display in similar form or by other means. Theauthorship of an item of social media content may be known throughdirect, indirect or inferential means, or may be unknown. Social mediacontent may but need not be produced in the course of employment, thatis, it may be produced as a consequence of professional or ofnon-professional activity.

As used herein, the phrase “naïve viewer” refers to a person who isviewing a video stream for the first time, that is, without havingpreviously viewed the video stream and therefore lacking foreknowledgeof the details of the content of the video stream. A naïve viewer wouldnot be able to describe detailed elements of plot, exposition, oroutcome of the events contained in the video stream as a consequence ofnot having experienced those elements by viewing the content of thestream. Thus for example a naïve viewer of a sporting event would notknow the final score of the sporting event.

As used herein, the phrases “offset time” and “media offset time” referto a period of time relative to the normal timeline of presentation ofmedia. Specifically, the media offset time of a specific point in mediacontent is the period of time that would elapse from the beginning ofpresentation of the media content to the specific point within the mediacontent when the media content is presented in linear fashion accordingto its defined format. Media offset time starts at zero at the beginningof the media content, increases monotonically through the media content,and is entirely defined by the format of the media content. For example,the media offset time of a specific frame of video may be determined bycounting the number of frames of video between the beginning of thevideo to the specific frame; the frame count can be converted to a clocktime by reference to the frame rate of the video content. The mediaoffset time of a particular point in the media content is the sameregardless of the wall clock time at which or the manner by which themedia content is presented.

The various aspects of the claimed subject matter are now described withreference to the annexed drawings. It should be understood, however,that the drawings and detailed description relating thereto are notintended to limit the claimed subject matter to the particular formdisclosed. Rather, the intention is to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of theclaimed subject matter.

Furthermore, the disclosed subject matter may be implemented as asystem, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standardprogramming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware,hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer or processorbased device to implement aspects detailed herein. The term “article ofmanufacture” (or alternatively, “computer program product”) as usedherein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from anycomputer-readable device, carrier, or media. Additionally it should beappreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carrycomputer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting andreceiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internetor a local area network. Of course, those skilled in the art willrecognize many modifications may be made to this configuration withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter.

The term “computer” is used herein to refer to any device withprocessing capability such that it can execute instructions. Thoseskilled in the art will realize that such processing capabilities areincorporated into many different devices and therefore the term“computer” includes PCs, servers, mobile telephone, tablet computers,personal digital assistants and many other devices.

The methods described herein may be performed by software in machinereadable form on a storage medium. The software can be suitable forexecution on a parallel processor or a serial processor such that themethod steps may be carried out in any suitable order, orsimultaneously.

The description acknowledges that software can be a valuable, separatelytradable commodity. The description is intended to encompass software,which runs on or controls ‘dumb’ or standard hardware, to carry out thedesired functions. It is also intended to encompass software which‘describes’ or defines the configuration of hardware, such as HDL(hardware description language) software, as is used for designingsilicon chips, or for configuring universal programmable chips, to carryout desired functions.

The steps of the methods described herein may be carried out in anysuitable order, or simultaneously where appropriate. Aspects of any ofthe examples described herein may be combined with aspects of any of theother examples described to form further examples without losing theeffect sought.

FIG. 1 depicts a scenario involving households 100, 110, 160, 190viewing a television episode. Two households 100, 110 are located in theEastern time zone, and a clock 120 associated with those households 100,110 is set to Eastern Standard Time (EST). During the distribution ofthe television episode in the Eastern time zone, a viewer in household100 is watching a terrestrial broadcast of the episode content and usesa cell phone 105 to tweet comments 125 about the content of the episode.Meanwhile, a viewer in household 110 is using a set-top box (STB) 115 toview a cable distribution of the episode content, and uses a remotecontrol 117 to interact with an interactive application running on theSTB 115 to create comments 135 about the content of the episode. Socialmedia content 125 created by a viewer in household 100 and social mediacontent 135 created by a viewer in household 110 are communicated to aprocessing and storage system 150. As each piece of social media content125, 135 is received by processing and storage system 150 the piece ofsocial media content 125, 135 is associated with the media offset timeat which the social media content was received at processing and storagesystem 150, and the associated media offset time is stored together withthe social media content 125, 135. Social media content 125, 135 can bedistributed to any household receiving the episode in the Eastern timezone. Preferentially social media content 125, 135 is distributed to allhouseholds receiving the episode in the Eastern time zone with minimaldelay after being received by processing and storage system 150. Thushousehold 100 receives social media content 130 from processing andstorage system 150 during the broadcast of the episode, and household110 receives social media content 140 during the broadcast of theepisode. Social media content 130 distributed to household 100 includessocial media content 135 created by a viewer in household 110, alongwith other social media content created by viewers in other households.Social media content 140 distributed to household 110 includes socialmedia content 125 created by a viewer in household 100, along with othersocial media content created by viewers in other households. In thisexemplary scenario, the shared social media content 130 can be receivedand displayed in household 100 by an application executing on a cellphone, whereas in household 110 the shared social media content 140 canbe received and displayed by the application executing on the STB 115.

A household 160 located in the Central time zone is associated with aclock 170 that is set to Central Standard Time (CST), which is one hourbehind EST. Household 160 receives the episode one hour later than theepisode was distributed in the Eastern time zone. The episode content isreceived by household 160 over an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)system. During the broadcast of the episode to household 160, theprocessing and storage system 150 communicates social media content 180including social media content 125, 135 that was received fromhouseholds in the Eastern time zone and stored in processing and storagesystem 150. Social media content 180 is conveyed to household 160 insynchrony with the episode content, by presenting each piece of socialmedia content at the media offset time associated with the social mediacontent in processing and storage system 150, the media offset timebeing measured relative to the broadcast of the episode content in theCentral time zone. Viewers in household 160 receive and display thesocial media content using a tablet computer 165. Newly-created socialmedia content 195 from a viewer viewing the episode in another household190 in the Central time zone is also stored by the processing andstorage system 150 along with the associated media offset time at whichthe social media content 195 is received by processing and storagesystem 150, the media offset time being determined relative to thebroadcast of the episode content in the Central time zone. Newly-createdsocial media content 195 is conveyed to household 160 as part of socialmedia content 180. Any social media content created by viewers inhousehold 160 can likewise be stored and distributed to any householdreceiving the episode in the Central time zone. Preferentially anysocial media content created by a viewer in the Central time zone isdistributed to all households receiving the episode in the Central timezone with minimal delay after being received by processing and storagesystem 150.

In the depicted scenario, viewers in the Eastern time zone can createsocial media content, and the social media content is immediately sharedwith other viewers in the Eastern time zone, so that the timeliness ofthe social media content is maintained among the viewers. A comment madeby one viewer about a particular scene in the episode content is seen byother viewers with minimal delay, thereby enhancing their experience ofthe episode content. In this scenario, the broadcast in the Eastern timezone is the first broadcast of the television episode, so all commentsmade during the broadcast are known to come from naïve viewers who havenever seen the content before. When the episode is broadcast an hourlater in the Central time zone, the social media content generated inthe Eastern time zone is conveyed to households in the Central time zonein synchrony with the episode content through the use of media offsettimes associated with each piece of social media content. By this meansa comment about a particular scene in the episode content will be seenalong with the scene, duplicating the viewer experience of the socialmedia content in the Eastern time zone. Viewers in the Central time zonehave not received this episode before. If viewers in the Central timezone create additional social media content while viewing the episode,this new social media content is shared with viewers in the Central timezone with minimal delay, and is added to the stored social media contentto be synchronously distributed with later broadcasts of the sameepisode.

The scenario in FIG. 1 illustrates that television content can bedistributed in a variety of ways. The scenario further illustrates thatsocial media content can be created and displayed on a variety ofdevices, and that the creation and display of social media content maybe connected with or distinct from the display of primary video content.

FIG. 2 illustrates by way of example a temporal sequence of activitiesamong users of an exemplary implementation of the inventive method andsystem. In the figure, time increases from left to right and theactivities of three individual users are displayed in horizontal rows.Timeline 200 depicts the progression of time in the Eastern time zonefrom 8:00 PM EST through Midnight EST, a period of time during whichviewers 202, 204, 206 each watch the same episode 212, 214, 216 of abroadcast television series.

Viewer E 202, who lives in the Eastern time zone, views an episode 212being aired in that time zone from 8:00 PM EST to 9:00 PM EST. Duringthe viewing of the episode 212, viewer E 202 creates a comment 220 aboutthe episode at time 8:07 PM EST, and creates another comment 222 at time8:42 PM EST. Since this is the first time the episode has beenpresented, the comments 220, 222 are known to come from a naïve viewer.The comments 220, 222 are recorded, along with the time stamps denotingthe relative time within the content that the comments were created, andare delivered to other viewers (e.g. viewers 100 and 110) of episode 212in the Eastern time zone. In this example, a viewer may create a commentusing a social media site or service by typing on a laptop or notebookcomputer, an iPad, or a smart phone; by sending a text message using amobile phone or smart phone; by entering the comment directly using theremote control of a smart television; or by any other method known inthe art for creating social media content.

Starting at 9:00 PM EST, episode 214 (where episode 214 may correspondto the same media content as episode 212 but is broadcast at a differenttime) is broadcast within the Central and Mountain time zones, andViewer C 204, who lives in the Central time zone, starts viewing episode214 at 8:00 PM CST. Viewer C 204 has not previously viewed the episodeand is thus naïve. Viewer C 204 and other viewers viewing episode 214(not shown) are presented with the comments 220, 222 made by Viewer E202 in synchrony with the video content. Comment 220, originally createdat 8:07 PM EST, is delivered to Viewer C 204 and other viewers in theCentral and Mountain time zones as comment 220 a at 9:07 PM EST (8:07 PMCST). Comment 222, originally created at 8:42 PM EST, is delivered toViewer C 204 and other viewers in the Central and Mountain time zones ascomment 222 a at 9:42 PM EST (8:42 PM CST). Thus delayed, comments 220 aand 222 a appear in synchrony with the portions of episode 214originally viewed by Viewer E 202 when comments 220, 222 were created.Viewer C 204 in turn creates comment 224 at 9:28 PM EST (8:28 PM CST);this comment is determined to come from a naïve viewer, and so isrecorded along with the appropriate time stamp, and presented to otherviewers of episode 214 in the Central and Mountain time zones.

Starting at 11:00 PM EST, the episode 216 is broadcast within thePacific time zone, and Viewer W 206, who lives in the Pacific time zone,starts viewing episode 216 at 8:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST).Viewer W 206 has also not previously viewed the episode and is thusnaïve. Viewer W 206 and other viewers viewing episode 216 in the Pacifictime zone (not shown) are presented with comments 220, 222 made byViewer E 202, as well as comment 224 made by Viewer C 204, in synchronywith the video content. Comment 220 b, originally created at 8:07 PMEST, is delivered to Viewer W 206 and other viewers in the Pacific timezone at 11:07 PM EST (8:07 PM PST); comment 224 a, originally created at9:28 PM EST (8:28 PM CST), is delivered to Viewer W 206 and otherviewers in the Pacific time zone at 11:28 PM EST (8:28 PM PST); andcomment 222 b, originally created at 8:42 PM EST, is delivered to ViewerW 206 and other viewers in the Pacific time zone at 11:42 PM EST (8:42PM PST). Viewer W 206 creates comment 226 at 11:50 PM EST (8:50 PM PST);the comment is determined to come from a naïve viewer, and is recordedalong with the appropriate time stamp, and presented to other viewers ofepisode 216 in the Pacific time zone.

The inventive system incorporates the feature of receiving and storingsocial media content with associated time stamps. Thus, following thebroadcast of episode 216 in the Pacific time zone, all comments 220,222, 224, 226 created by naïve viewers during the original broadcasts212, 214, 216 of the episode are stored by the inventive system, and areavailable for presentation during subsequent viewing of the episode.Thus, if the episode video stream were presented at a later time on alater day to a viewer for display on a user device, recorded comments220, 222, 224, 226 can be presented to a user device in accordance withtheir respective time stamps. More specifically, at 7 minutes into thevideo stream, comment 220 is presented to a user device; at 28 minutesinto the video stream, comment 222 is presented to a user device; at 42minutes into the video stream, comment 224 is presented to a userdevice; and, at 50 minutes into the video stream, comment 226 ispresented to a user device.

In the inventive system, if the video stream is presented non-linearlyto a user device, for example if the user utilizes the features ofpause, rewind, or fast forward in the delivery and display of the videostream, the social media content is presented in accordance with thenon-linear presentation of the video stream. That is, the time ofpresentation of secondary social media content is made to correspond tothe relative time of the video stream corresponding to the time stamp ofeach element of social media content, regardless of the rate ofpresentation of the video stream, and regardless of any non-linearprogression through the video stream. If the video stream is paused, thepresentation of social media content is paused. If the video stream isrewound and replayed, an element of social media content may bepresented more than once as the corresponding relative time of the videostream is reached. If the video stream is displayed at afaster-than-normal rate, elements of social media content may bepresented more quickly than the original rate of presentation of theelements of social media content.

Where comments are made outside of the broadcast or first-playback timeperiod, it is preferred to treat such social media content as notoriginating from a naïve user. Such comments are shown by elements 230and 240 in FIG. 2, where the social media content is produced by viewerC after the broadcast (or any local playback by viewer C on theirdigital video recorder (DVR)) had occurred. That is, if a new element ofsocial media content is received for which the source location of thenew social media content is not within the reception region of a currentbroadcast of the video stream, then the new social media content isjudged not to be from a naïve viewer since the creator of the new socialmedia content cannot be viewing the current broadcast of the videostream and must therefore have seen the video stream previously.

FIG. 3 depicts elements of an exemplary system 300 configured topractice an aspect of the inventive method. A video server 310 serves avideo stream 340 to one or more user display device 360. Video server310 provides timing information to a media content server 320 signalingthe relative time within the served video stream 340. During thepresentation of the video stream 340, media content server 320 examinesthe contents of media content store 330 to determine if there are is anystored social media content associated with the served video stream 340with a time stamp corresponding to the relative time of the served videostream 340. If media content server 320 finds such stored social mediacontent, the media content 350 is presented to the one or more userdisplay device 360 at the appropriate time within the video streambroadcast, where the appropriate time is indicated by a time stampassociated with the stored social media content.

During the presentation of video stream 340, the user of a user displaydevice 360 may generate social media content 390 through the use of asocial media device 370. The social media content 390 is conveyedthrough social network 380, and is retrieved from the social network 380by media content server 320. Based on attributes of social media content390, media content server 320 determines if the social media content 390originated from a naïve viewer of video stream 340. If social mediacontent 390 originated from a naïve viewer of video stream 340, socialmedia content 390 is stored in media content store 330 along with a timestamp signaling the relative time within the served video stream atwhich the social media content 390 was created, and social media content390 is presented as media content 350 to one or more user display device360.

Video stream 340 may be stored in video server 310, or may be retrievedby video server 310 from a media store (not shown in FIG. 3). Videostream 340 may be conveyed to user display device 360 as an evanescentphotonic, electrical, and/or electromagnetic signal delivered by wiredor wireless conveyance, or may be conveyed as a physical artifact suchas a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc, thumb drive, portablehard drive, or by other means known in the art. Video stream 340 andmedia content 350 may be conveyed by the same or by different means touser display device 360. Video stream 340 and media content 350 may beconveyed to the same user display device 360 or may be delivered todifferent user display devices 360. For example, video stream 340 may bedelivered to and displayed on a television set, while media content 350may be delivered to and displayed on a tablet computer operated by aviewer of the television set. In an alternative embodiment, mediacontent 350 may be conveyed to social media device 370 for display.

Social media device 370 may be integral to user display device 360, ormay be a separate physical unit. Social media device 370 may be adesktop, laptop, or netbook computer; a tablet computer; a mobile phone,smart phone, Apple Touch™, Apple iPad™, Android Droid™, or similarmobile device; a smart television; or any other suitable electronicdevice known in the art. Social media content 390 may be generatedthrough hardware and/or software embodied within social media device370; or may be generated through hardware and/or software embodiedwithin a server accessible through a wired or wireless network 380; ormay be generated through a combination of hardware and/or softwareembodied within social media device 370 and within a server accessiblethrough a wired or wireless network 380, or by other means known in theart. Social media content 390 may be delivered indirectly from socialmedia device 370 to media content server 320 through a wired or wirelesssocial network 380, or may be delivered directly from social mediadevice 370 to media content server 320, or may be partly conveyedindirectly through social network 380 and partly conveyed directly tomedia content server 320. Metadata describing social media content 390,including for example the name, location, time zone, viewing status, andviewing history of the user of social media device 370, may be providedto media content server 320 from social network 380; may be provided tomedia content server 320 directly from social media device 370; may beincorporated within social media content 390; or may be acquired byother means by media content server 320. Metadata describing socialmedia content 390 may be used by media content server 320 in determiningwhether social media content 390 is generated by a naïve viewer of videostream 340. The metadata associated with the social media content 390may include, for example, the identity of the creator and the time, thelocation, and the time zone of the point at which the social mediacontent was created.

The functions of video server 310, media content server 320, and mediacontent store 330 may be realized through hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software; may be realized by separatesystems or by a single system in any combination; and may be realized ata single location or at distant locations. Communication between videoserver 310 and media content server 320, and between media contentserver 320 and media content store 330, may be by any wired or wirelessmeans, including inter alia a wired computer bus, serial port, parallelport, Ethernet, USB, FireWire, or wireless hub, or by any combination ofsuch means. Similarly, communication between social media device 370 andsocial network 380, between social media device 370 and media contentserver 320, and between social network 380 and media content server 320,may be by any wired or wireless means known in the art, or by anycombination of such means.

In an alternative embodiment of the system 300, when video stream 340 isconveyed by means of a physical artifact such as a DVD or Blu-ray discto user display device 360, user display device 360 provides relativetiming information to media content server 320 to allow media contentserver 320 to retrieve associated media content 350 from media contentstore 330 in a synchronous manner. In this case, the display of videostream 340 by user display device 360 may involve non-linearpresentation as discussed above.

FIG. 4 further depicts an embodiment of a system 300 configured topractice an aspect of the inventive method. Video server 310 includes astream server module 400 configured to provide a video stream. Streamserver module 400 may be for example a broadcast server providing anelectromagnetic signal for terrestrial, satellite, and cabledistribution to multiple households. In an alternative embodiment,stream server module 400 may be a web server providing an InternetProtocol (IP) stream of packets comprising a compressed video streamutilizing the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) for conveyance to asingle user display device; utilizing the User Datagram Protocol (UDP)for conveyance to one or multiple user display devices; utilizing theReal-time Transport Protocol (RTP) for conveyance to one or multipleuser display devices; or utilizing some other standard or proprietarytransport protocol. In yet another alternative embodiment, stream servermodule 400 may be a video-on-demand (VOD) server providing a digitizedvideo stream through a cable transmission system to a single userdisplay device.

In the embodiment of system 300 depicted in FIG. 4, media content server320 includes content receiver module 410 for receiving social mediacontent 390. Content receiver module 410 may receive social mediacontent directly from social media devices through a wired or wirelesscommunication channel. Alternatively, media content server 320 mayreceive social media content indirectly by reading tweets from a Twitterfeed; by retrieving data using the Facebook Platform applicationprogramming interface (API); by monitoring a Really Simple Syndication(RSS) feed; by downloading email from a mail server; by receivingHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST, GET, or PUT messages; byreceiving telephonic text messages; or by any combination of these orother data transfer and extraction methods known in the art. Socialmedia content 390 may be retrieved by content receiver module 410contemporaneously with the creation of social media content 390, or maybe retrieved by content receiver module 410 at some delay after the timeof creation of social media content 390. When social media content 390is received, metadata associated with the social media content 390 areretrieved, including for example the identity of the creator and thetime, location and time zone of the point at which the social mediacontent was created. Metadata may be retrieved using the same means usedto retrieve social media content 390, or may be retrieved by other meanssuch as those described above, or by other means known in the art. Forexample, if social media content 390 is received from a cable televisionsubscriber through a cable television return path, metadata may beretrieved from the cable television multisystem operator (MSO). As afurther example, if social media content 390 is received as a textmessage from a mobile device, metadata may be retrieved from the mobiledevice service provider.

Content receiver module 410 passes received social media content, withany associated metadata, to content analysis module 420. Contentanalysis module 420 uses the social media content and associatedmetadata to determine if social media content 390 originated from anaïve viewer of video stream 340. Exemplary methods for determining ifsocial media content originates from a naïve viewer of media content aredescribed below in conjunction with the discussion of FIG. 5. If contentanalysis module 420 determines that social media content 390 originatedfrom a naïve viewer of video stream 340, content analysis module 420passes social media content 390, with associated metadata and relativetiming information, to media content storage and retrieval module 440for storage in media content store 330. Additionally, if contentanalysis module 420 determines that social media content 390 originatedfrom a naïve viewer of video stream 340, content analysis module 420passes social media content 390 to content presentation module 430 fordelivery in media content 350.

Throughout the delivery of video stream 340, content presentation module430 queries media content storage and retrieval module 440 to determineif any social media content is stored in media content 330 related tovideo stream 340 with a time stamp corresponding to the current relativetime of video stream 340. If such social media content exists, contentpresentation module 430 receives social media content from media contentstorage and retrieval module 440, and delivers media content 350 to userdisplay device 360 in synchrony with the delivery of video stream 340.

Content presentation module 430 may receive relative timing informationdirectly from stream server module 400. In an alternative embodimentwhere stream server module is a broadcast stream providing video stream340 according to a broadcast schedule, content presentation module 430may receive broadcast schedule information from stream server module 400or by other means and may determine the relative timing of video stream340 based on current clock time. In yet another alternative embodimentwhere video stream 340 is provided as a physical artifact such as a DVDor Blu-ray disc, content presentation module 430 may receive relativetiming information directly from user display device 360.

The functions of modules 400, 410, 420, 430, 440 may be provided byhardware, software, or any combination of hardware and software.Further, the modules 400, 410, 420, 430, 440 may be provided by a singlephysical system or by multiple physical systems. The systems providingthe functions of modules 400, 410, 420, 430, 440 may be located in asingle physical location, or may be located in multiple physicallocations. Communication among modules 400, 410, 420, 430, 440 andbetween modules 400, 410, 420, 430, 440 and external devices may bethrough any wired or wireless means known in the art. All suchalternatives, and others apparent to those skilled in the art, fallwithin the spirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 5 depicts steps of an exemplary process 500 implementing an aspectof the inventive method. At a step 510 a video stream is presented to auser device. At a further step 520 the current media offset time of thevideo stream is determined. At a further step 530, a test is made todetermine if a store of media content contains any stored media contentrelated to the video stream with a time stamp between the previous mediaoffset time and the current media offset time. If such stored mediacontent is found, at a further step 540 the stored media content isretrieved and delivered to a user device. At a further step 550 a testis made to determine if new social media content is available. If no newsocial media content is available, then the process proceeds at a step590. If new social media content is available, at a further step 560 thenew social media content is checked to determine if the content wascreated by a naïve viewer. If the new social media content was notcreated by a naïve viewer, then the process proceeds at a step 590. Ifthe system determines that the new social media content was created by anaïve viewer, then at a further step 570 the new social media content isstored, along a time stamp corresponding to the current media offsettime, in a store of media content; and at a further step 580 the newsocial media content is delivered to a user device. At a further step590 a test is made to determine if the video stream has ended. If thevideo stream has not ended, the process continues at a step 520. If thevideo stream has ended, process 500 terminates.

At step 560, the test to determine whether new social media content wascreated by a naïve viewer is based upon metadata associated with the newsocial media content, and may be based on the history of streaming thevideo stream. For example, as depicted in FIG. 2, in a broadcastenvironment a video stream may be broadcast multiple times in differenttime zones. If a new element of social media content is received forwhich the source location of the new social media content is not withinthe reception region of a current broadcast of the video stream, thenthe new social media content is judged not to be from a naïve viewer,since the creator of the new social media content cannot be viewing thecurrent broadcast of the video stream, and must therefore have seen thevideo stream previously. This case is illustrated in FIG. 2, wherecomment 230 is created by Viewer C 204, during a period in which thevideo stream is not being broadcast. Comment 230 can thus be judged notto be from a naïve viewer, and is not stored or displayed.

Note that the test performed at a step 560 is in contradistinction tothe method of '774, in which processing of social media content requiresanalyzing the meaning of the social media content. In the inventivemethod and system, the determination of whether new social media contentwas created by a naïve viewer is made independent of the specific datacontained within the social media content. The inventive method andsystem thereby avoid the problematic and error-prone step of determiningthe precise meaning of social media content.

In the inventive method and system, the test at a step 560 utilizesmetadata associated with the new social media content, that is,information about the social media content or the circumstances of thecreation of the social media content, rather than the informationcontained within the social media content itself. Multiple types ofmetadata from multiple sources may be used in this test. For example, ifa new element of social media content is received for which the sourcelocation of the new social media content is within a first time zonethat received an earlier broadcast of the video stream, but the newelement of social media content was created while the video stream isbeing broadcast within a second later time zone, then the new socialmedia content is judged not to be from a naïve viewer, since the creatorof the new social media content may have seen the video in the firsttime zone prior to the current broadcast in the second time zone. Thiscase is illustrated in FIG. 2, where comment 240 is created by Viewer C204 during a period in which the video stream is being broadcast in thePacific time zone. Since Viewer C is physically located in the Centraltime zone, Viewer C could have seen the video stream at a priorbroadcast 214 and comment 240 can be judged not to be from a naïveviewer.

FIG. 2 illustrates another rule that can be utilized to determine if anelement of social media content is created by a naïve viewer. Viewer C204 creates comment 224 which is judged to be from a naïve viewer and isstored in the media content store along with the time stamp when thecomment was created. Subsequently Viewer C 204 creates comments 230 and240, which are created after the termination of the delivery of videostream 214. When comment 230 or 240 is received, the media content storeis examined to determine if any stored media content was created by theauthor of the new comment. In this case, comment 224 is found within themedia content store. It is then determined that the video streambroadcast in effect when comment 224 was created has completed, and ajudgment is made than any subsequent comment made by the same author isnot from a naïve viewer. That is, Viewer C 204 was viewing video stream214 when comment 224 was created. Since comments 230 and 240 werecreated after the termination of video stream 214, which was beingviewed by the author of comments 224, comments 230 and 240 from the sameauthor can be judged not to be from a naïve viewer. Note that thisdetermination is not based on the location at which comments 230 and 240were created nor on the local time zone in which comments 230 or 240were created, but only on the inferred viewing history of the author ofcomments 224, 230, and 240.

Other methods of determining the viewing history of the author of anelement of social media content may be used at a step 560 whendetermining whether an element of social media content was created by anaïve viewer of a video stream. For example, a record of use of aninteractive television application broadcast during the broadcast of atelevision episode may indicate that a user device was used to view thetelevision episode, and that the user of the device may thereby bejudged to have previously viewed the television episode. If the userdevice were to be used subsequently to create an element of social mediacontent, then the element may be judged not to come from a naïve viewer.

The following example will illustrate an exemplary implementation of astep 560 to determine whether specific social media content was authoredby a naïve viewer. In this exemplary system, media content server 320 iscollecting social media content for a specific television show (“My NewShow”). The broadcast schedule for “My New Show” is available to mediacontent server 320, and specifically to content analysis module 420,with the schedule specifying the time interval during which the videocontent is broadcast in each time zone. Media content receiver module410 collects social media content by using a Twitter API to retrievetweets from www.twitter.com (details of the Twitter API are available atdev.twitter.com, retrieved Sep. 9, 2012). Specifically, media contentreceiver module 410 subscribes to a public stream from twitter.comfiltered with a hashtag associated with the television show (typically“#mynewshow”). The content of the public stream comprises a set oftweets encoded using the Javascript Object Notation (JSON) protocolwhich is parsed by the media content receiver 410. The JSON content of asingle tweet will contain the text of the tweet, encoded for example as:

-   -   “text”:“Tonight's show is really exciting. I love how Jamie's        character is becoming more and more complex”

The JSON content of the tweet will also include metadata about thetweet. One of the elements of metadata describes the author of thetweet, encoded for example as shown in FIG. 6

Another element of the metadata stipulates the time at which the tweetwas authored, encoded for example as:

-   -   “created_at”:“Wed Aug 27 05:30:18 +0000 2012”

The metadata might also include information about the location fromwhich the tweet originated, encoded for example as:

-   -   “coordinates”: {“coordinates”: [−75.14310264, 40.05701649],        “type”:“Point”}

Media content receiver 410 processed each tweet to retrieve the textualcontent of the tweet and to obtain a unique identifier for the author ofthe tweet (from the “id_str” element 654 of the “user” metadata); a timezone for the author (from the “time_zone” element 666 of the “user”metadata); a location from which the tweet originated (from the“coordinates” metadata); and the time at which the tweet was authored(from the “created_at” metadata). These metadata are passed, with thetextual content of the tweet, to content analysis module 420 to make adetermination if the author of this tweet is a naïve viewer.

As an example of how such a determination may be performed, by using thetime at which the tweet was authored, content analysis module 420 coulddetermine that the tweet was authored during the first time the videocontent was broadcast, and that the author must have been a naïve viewerof the video content.

As a further example, content analysis module 420 could use thecoordinate data to determine the time interval during which the videocontent was broadcast at that location, and determine from the time zoneand creation date if the tweet was authored during the broadcast of thevideo content at the origination location. If the tweet was authoredduring the proper time interval for the origination location, contentanalysis module 420 could determine that the tweet was authored by anaïve viewer.

As a yet further example, content analysis module 420 can use the uniqueauthor identifier to determine whether this author has posted previoustweets referencing the television show hashtag. If this author posted amessage containing the hashtag at an earlier time from a location in adifferent time zone during the interval during which the video contentwas being broadcast within that time zone, then content analysis module420 could determine that the author is not naïve, since the author couldhave viewed the content at that different location during the earlierbroadcast.

When performing the test for a naïve viewer at a step 560, contentanalysis module 420 can use any of the exemplary rules described above,alone and in combination, as well as additional rules described herein,and other rules that would be obvious to those skilled in the art.

The test for a naïve viewer at a step 560 may be permissive orexclusionary. That is, the test may be permissive and determine that aviewer is naïve unless specific evidence demonstrates otherwise; or thetest may be exclusionary and determine that a viewer is not naïve unlessspecific evidence demonstrates otherwise. For example, in an alternativeembodiment of system 300 where video server 310 is a VOD system, apermissive test at a step 560 could determine if the author of anelement of social media content created during the presentation of avideo stream has previously viewed the video stream using the VODsystem, and if the author has not previously viewed the video stream,judge the author to be a naïve viewer. In this alternative embodiment, arestrictive test at a step 560 could determine that any author of anelement of social media content created during the presentation of avideo stream by the VOD system is not a naïve viewer, since the videostream may previously been presented by another system to which theauthor may have had access.

The steps of exemplary process 500 may be performed by a single systemat a single site or by multiple systems at multiple sites, and may beperformed in the sequence shown, in other sequences not shown, serially,in parallel, or in other combinations, without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed, as noted above, many changes can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope ofthe invention is not limited by the disclosure of a preferredembodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely byreference to the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a computer system, a method for distributionof a video stream together with associated media content, the methodcomprising: during a current distribution of the video stream:retrieving a stored first media content associated with the video streamalong with a stored associated first media offset time stamp;distributing the retrieved first media content with the video stream ata first media offset time in the video stream corresponding to a timeindicated by the retrieved first media offset time stamp; receiving asecond media content associated with the video stream from a viewer;determining whether the viewer has previously viewed the video stream;and when the viewer has not previously viewed the video stream:associating a second media offset time with the second media content asa second media offset time stamp; storing the second media content andthe associated second media offset time stamp; and distributing thesecond media content with the video stream at a second media offset timein the video stream corresponding to a time indicated by the secondmedia offset time stamp; and when the viewer has previously viewed thevideo stream, until at least the video stream has ended: bypass storingthe second media content; and bypass distributing the second mediacontent.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the stored first mediacontent is associated with a previous distribution of the video streamand wherein the previous distribution of the video stream is within afirst geographical area; the current distribution is within a secondgeographical area different from the first geographical area; and thestep of determining that the viewer has not previously viewed the videostream is responsive to a determination that the viewer is locatedwithin the second geographical area.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein:the current distribution of the video stream is by a video-on-demandservice; and the step of determining that the viewer has not previouslyviewed the video stream is responsive to a determination that the viewerhas not previously accessed the video stream through the video-on-demandservice.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining thatthe viewer has not previously viewed the video stream is responsive to adetermination that the viewer has not generated any of the stored mediacontent with an associated media offset time stamp greater than thesecond media offset time stamp.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thecurrent distribution of the video stream and the distribution of theretrieved first media content are accomplished by different means. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the current distribution of the videostream and the distribution of the retrieved first media content areaccomplished by the same means.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thecurrent distribution of the video stream and the distribution of thesecond media content are accomplished by different means.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein the current distribution of the video stream and thedistribution of the second media content are accomplished by the samemeans.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored first media contentis received, during a previous distribution of the video stream, from aprevious viewer.
 10. A system for presentation of video content, thesystem comprising: a processor; and a memory, coupled to the processor,having a program stored in the memory and executable by the processor,wherein the program includes: a stream distribution module configured todistribute a video stream; a media content storage and retrieval moduleconfigured to store and retrieve media content associated with the videostream and a media offset time stamp of media content creation relativeto a time of the associated video stream; a content distribution moduleconfigured to retrieve the stored media content from the media contentstorage and retrieval module responsive to a media offset time of thevideo stream and distribute the media content; a content receiver moduleconfigured to receive media content associated with the video contentfrom a viewer and associate a media offset time stamp with the mediacontent based on the relative media time of the video stream at the timethe media content was created; and a content analysis module configuredto determine if received media content was created by a viewer who hadnot previously viewed the video stream; and wherein the system isoperative to: distribute the video stream from the stream distributionmodule with at least a determination of whether the received mediacontent was created by the viewer who had not previously viewed thevideo stream; during a presentation of the video stream, receive at thecontent receiver module a first media content associated with the videostream generated by a viewer; upon receipt of the first media content,determine using the content analysis module whether the first mediacontent was created by a viewer who had not previously viewed the videostream; upon determining that the received first media content wascreated by a viewer who had not previously viewed the video stream,store the received first media content with an associated media offsettime stamp using the media content storage and retrieval module anddistribute the received first media content using the contentdistribution module; and upon determining that the received first mediacontent was created by a viewer who had not previously viewed the videostream, at least until the video stream has ended: bypass storing thesecond media content; and bypass distributing the second media content.11. The system of claim 10, wherein the content distribution module isconfigured to receive relative timing information from the streamdistribution module.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the contentanalysis module is configured to determine if the first media contentwas created by a viewer who had not previously viewed the video streamresponsive to whether the viewer is located in a geographical locationto which the video stream had not previously been distributed.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein: the stream distribution module is avideo-on-demand module; and the content analysis module is configured todetermine if the first media content was created by a viewer who had notpreviously viewed the video stream responsive to whether the viewer hadnot previously viewed the video stream through the stream distributionmodule.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the content analysis moduleis configured to determine if the first media content was created by aviewer who had not previously viewed the video stream responsive towhether the viewer created any of the stored media content with a mediaoffset time stamp greater than the media offset time stamp of the firstmedia content.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein the distribution ofthe video stream and the distribution of the first media content areaccomplished by different means.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein thedistribution of the video stream and the distribution of the first mediacontent are accomplished by the same means.